The human side of the railway...

[Dave Scott]

This was taken at Clapham Junction around 1988/89.

 

How times have changed.  The 4 Bep unit was moving at the time, albeit fairly slowly in the yard, with the driver in conversation with the shunter...who is riding on the step of the motor bogie...above the third rail.  Not much evidence of PPE on the shunter either.

 

I imagine that that was part and parcel of normal or accepted operating practise on the railway at the time.

 

2305 Clapham Junction RMWeb.jpg

I was once told an even harrier story re proximity to the third rail. Addiscombe depot, now closed, had as many do one road where it was easy to get gaped if too slow off shed. Gaped is when no conductor shoes are in contact with third rail. The unofficial procedure was to use a shorting bar. This was suposed to be a safety device to put between the runnig rail and the juice to trip the substation breakers in an emergency. To start a gapped train "put it in notch one mate" was yelled and the shorting bar was pivoted over the third rail and under a shoe untill with a flash and bang the unit jerked forward, usually enough to drive away. This was told to me by an Addiscombe fitter

[BR(S)]

1989, wrong road set at Reading for a Freightliner train + 2 x 37s, which then reverses back to the station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF0zmHFQOmM

[royaloak]

1989, wrong road set at Reading for a Freightliner train + 2 x 37s, which then reverses back to the station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF0zmHFQOmM

Highly unlikely to be a wrong route, the train sets off going the same way so wouldnt make any difference whether he was fast or slow line. More likely to be a problem ahead on the slow line so the train has been reversed back so it can go fast line and so wouldnt get stuck behind the problem.

 

Of course so called enthusiasts always jump to conclusions rather than think things through!

Edited December 26, 2014 by royaloak

[brian daniels]

Seeing as it's going down the goods to start with I would imagine it's knocked one off in the yard first, that's all.

[The Stationmaster]

1989, wrong road set at Reading for a Freightliner train + 2 x 37s, which then reverses back to the station: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF0zmHFQOmM

I suspect that might not be entirely what is suggested.  The train has initially gone along the Down Goods and there appears at one point to be a Shunter waving it on and in addition are we really going to believe that the Driver was that stupid as to go that way in the first place?  (although I could perhaps answer the last point by saying there were some 'foreign' men who worked over the Western with very 'thin' road knowledge until we started stamping on the practice).

 

However it looks to me, from the presence of the Shunter, or whoever he was, that it was a planned move for some reason in order to put the train out of the way.  What we don't know is the interval between it going down the Goods and coming back out although the presence of the Cross Country loco in the spur (assuming it's the same one) suggests it was less than an hour.

[The Pilotman]

I suspect that might not be entirely what is suggested. The train has initially gone along the Down Goods and there appears at one point to be a Shunter waving it on and in addition are we really going to believe that the Driver was that stupid as to go that way in the first place? (although I could perhaps answer the last point by saying there were some 'foreign' men who worked over the Western with very 'thin' road knowledge until we started stamping on the practice).

 

However it looks to me, from the presence of the Shunter, or whoever he was, that it was a planned move for some reason in order to put the train out of the way. What we don't know is the interval between it going down the Goods and coming back out although the presence of the Cross Country loco in the spur (assuming it's the same one) suggests it was less than an hour.

I had a look at this video and it's difficult to tell exactly what was going on here and I worked in Reading Panel for ten years. I find it very hard to believe that a Southampton-bound Freightliner with a 4O** reporting number would be routed down the goods in error (unless it was a 4Z**, in which case the signalman would definitely have looked to see where it was going).

Although the cameraman says it went off round the curve towards Basingstoke, it could also have gone down the Berks & Hants so it may have been bound for Cardiff and was diverted because of some problem on the Swindon line in which case it may have been put down the goods waiting for a pilot driver.

As for wrong routings, I could tell you a few stories there...

Edited December 27, 2014 by Western Aviator

[The Stationmaster]

I had a look at this video and its hard to tell what was going on here and I working in Reading Panel for ten years. I find it very hard to believe that a Southampton-bound Freightliner with a 4O** reporting number would be routed down the goods in error (unless it was a 4Z**, in which case the signalman would definitely have looked to see where it was going).

Although the cameraman says it went off round the curve towards Basingstoke, it could also have gone down the Berks & Hants so it may have been bound for Cardiff and was diverted because of some problem on the Swindon line in which case it may have been put down the goods waiting for a pilot driver.

As for wrong routings, I could tell you a few stories there...

Especially at Reading Spur Jcn

[The Pilotman]

Especially at Reading Spur Jcn

Oh, yes; very easy to do! The signal protecting the junction on the down southern (R326 as it was then) could be set to work automatically for down trains and, as the vast majority of trains ran straight into platforms 4A/B, that was how most signalmen left it. For the few down trains that were booked up the bank to the western lines, there was not that much time, once the train had been described from Wokingham box, to put R326 back to manual operation. I know I got caught out a couple of times, as I'm sure everyone that worked there did at least once. At that time, the signalman controlling the southern lines was also responsible for Reading station, Twyford West, Ruscombe and the Henley branch so it was VERY easy to overlook what was happening on the juice rails. Because of that high workload, a wrong route at Reading Spur Junction was perhaps not regarded as being as serious as elsewhere.

With the coming of DOO and cab telephones, you often got a bit of assistance if you'd forgotten to put R326 to manual. A helpful driver on a train booked onto the western lines would usually give you a call if he had a green at DS66 (the "distant" for R326) because he would know that, as R326 was approach-controlled for the western route, a green at DS66 meant you'd forgotten!

Luckily, on the occasions I slipped up, the driver stopped at the junction signal. One of my erstwhile colleagues was not so lucky with a diverted Brighton to Manchester loco-hauled train one day. The driver took the wrong route towards the bay platforms at the junction signal but having realised his mistake, stopped too far past the junction to prevent the following 8 car Waterloo-Reading electric from reaching the junction signal behind. That took a lot of sorting out...

Edited December 27, 2014 by Western Aviator

[The Stationmaster]

Oh, yes; very easy to do! The signal protecting the junction on the down southern (R326 as it was then) could be set to work automatically for down trains and, as the vast majority of trains ran straight into platforms 4A/B, that was how most signalmen left it. For the few down trains that were booked up the bank to the western lines, there was not that much time, once the train had been described from Wokingham box, to put R326 back to manual operation. I know I got caught out a couple of times, as I'm sure everyone that worked there did at least once. At that time, the signalman controlling the southern lines was also responsible for Reading station, Twyford West, Ruscombe and the Henley branch so it was VERY easy to overlook what was happening on the juice rails. Because of that high workload, a wrong route at Reading Spur Junction was perhaps not regarded as being as serious as elsewhere.

With the coming of DOO and cab telephones, you often got a bit of assistance if you'd forgotten to put R326 to manual. A helpful driver on a train booked onto the western lines would usually give you a call if he had a green at DS66 (the "distant" for R326) because he would know that, as R326 was approach-controlled for the western route, a green at DS66 meant you'd forgotten!

Luckily, on the occasions I slipped up, the driver stopped at the junction signal. One of my erstwhile colleagues was not so lucky with a diverted Brighton to Manchester loco-hauled train one day. The driver took the wrong route towards the bay platforms at the junction signal but having realised his mistake, stopped too far past the junction to prevent the following 8 car Waterloo-Reading electric from reaching the junction signal behind. That took a lot of sorting out...

It could get even more 'amusing' when an electric unit for 4A finished up turning right towards Reading New Jcn!

Edited December 27, 2014 by The Stationmaster

[The Pilotman]

It could get even more 'amusing' when an electric unit for 4A finished up turning right towards Reading New Jcn!

I never managed to pull that one off, Mike (if you'll pardon the pun) but I know it did happen!

Edited December 27, 2014 by Western Aviator

[The Pilotman]

I couldn't resist relating this story about wrong routings because it does have a funny side. It was the 1400-2200 shift one day in the early 90s and the signalman working the Didcot position in Reading Panel (before it was farmed out to Swindon B IECC) wrongly routed three trains all at the same time. He managed to get the 1703 Paddington to Cheltenham and the following 1710 Paddington to Hereford mixed up so that the former was on the down relief platform with the road set round the corner towards Didcot North and Oxford while the latter came to a stand at Didcot East junction with greens down the main towards Swindon. Perhaps somewhat unsettled by this turn of events, he managed the hat-trick by routing an Oxford to Paddington fast that was booked to call at Didcot via the up avoiding line. Luckily all three drivers were on the ball and queried their respective incorrect routings. As the fellow signalmen (me included) chimed in with sarcastic shouts of, "Sorry, driver!" the Panel supervisor suggested he take a break and so he was relieved by the standby signalman. As he headed for the kitchen the supervisor added, "and you'd better write a report before you come back."

Anyway, the funny bit about it was that the signalman involved was off his normal shift, covering the position for the regular man. The regular signalman had a trainee learning with him and although he wasn't working that day, the trainee was. However, when the off shift signalman arrived on duty he was not too impressed with having to look after a trainee and said that the trainee would have to learn another position that day. When the supervisor asked him why he didn't want a trainee with him, the off shift signalman replied, "Because if he f***s it up, it's my name on the train register." Words that haunted him for a long time afterwards....

Edited December 29, 2014 by Western Aviator

[flyingsignalman]

I was once told an even harrier story re proximity to the third rail. Addiscombe depot, now closed, had as many do one road where it was easy to get gaped if too slow off shed. Gaped is when no conductor shoes are in contact with third rail. The unofficial procedure was to use a shorting bar. This was suposed to be a safety device to put between the runnig rail and the juice to trip the substation breakers in an emergency. To start a gapped train "put it in notch one mate" was yelled and the shorting bar was pivoted over the third rail and under a shoe untill with a flash and bang the unit jerked forward, usually enough to drive away. This was told to me by an Addiscombe fitter

At Bidston East Jcn on the Wirral lines a train stopping to drop a trainee signalman managed to gap itself; the train's shoe was about an inch above the juice rail. A passing PWay man used a paddle (a wooden device for putting short circuiting bar on the rails) under the juice rail, pivoting it on a spare insulator pot and lifted the juice rail up so the train could take power and carry on its way.

[Eggesford box]

A guard on a Chiltern service this morning was asked by a businessman if he could request the woman sat across from him to eat her muesli less noisily!

[4630]

A guard on a Chiltern service this morning was asked by a businessman if he could request the woman sat across from him to eat her muesli less noisily!

Was he sitting in the designated 'quiet coach' ?

[Eggesford box]

Was he sitting in the designated 'quiet coach' ?

I have no idea, perhaps they should have one of those window stickers with a breakfast bowl pictogram with a red line through it!

 

I can remember being on a bus in Malaysia which along with the normal pictograms of banned items (dogs etc) also had one for no Durian fruit

[The Pilotman]

A guard on a Chiltern service this morning was asked by a businessman if he could request the woman sat across from him to eat her muesli less noisily!

Sounds like all is well in the Home Counties this morning...

[PhilJ W]

I have no idea, perhaps they should have one of those window stickers with a breakfast bowl pictogram with a red line through it!

 

I can remember being on a bus in Malaysia which along with the normal pictograms of banned items (dogs etc) also had one for no Durian fruit

Is that the one that stinks?

[The Pilotman]

Is that the one that stinks?

Yes. It's on a par with Surströmming, the almost rotten herring that they eat in Sweden. Outside.

[Oldddudders]

Eggesford box, on 29 Dec 2014 - 09:38, said:

A guard on a Chiltern service this morning was asked by a businessman if he could request the woman sat across from him to eat her muesli less noisily!

Was it his wife?

[4630]

Close up and personal with 4 Rep 3004.

 

The re-railing crew make progress with jacking and packing to get DMS 62147 from unit 3004 out of the dirt at Bournemouth depot on 5th March 1976.

 

 

 

I have a series of photos taken of this recovery which I'll post in a separate thread.

 

 

[Rail Announcement]

It's great to see so many photographs that include people. Especially interesting is the way that fashions have changed over the years.

 

The rail industry is about so much more than just rolling stock.

[Jan]

Removed to Friary; a page of an LSWR Staff Ledger. A big, thick tome, describing the ins and outs of the less glamorous end of the railway. A book of promotions, cautions, deaths and dismissals. I picked it up at auction in Plymstock in the lay 90's.

 

Cheers

 

Jan

Edited January 24, 2015 by Jan

[BR(S)]

Class 33s at Par on a railtour in 1977.  Notice all the enthusiasts wandering around next to the running line to get a photo!: https://flic.kr/p/e3CNpz

[talisman56]

Class 33s at Par on a railtour in 1977.  Notice all the enthusiasts wandering around next to the running line to get a photo!: https://flic.kr/p/e3CNpz

 

OK, so where did all the enthusiasts travel in that train?

[Michael Delamar]

47484 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel' at Cardiff - 12th March, 1976 by Deadman's Handle, on Flickr